Written by Brett Brannon & Media by Joe Hubbs
The GC Men’s tennis team took to the Scott E. Burgess Courts for their first two home contests of this season on Saturday. They welcomed their conference foes from Fontbonne University in a morning match, followed by an afternoon non-conference match against Millikin University.
The Panthers wasted no time in gaining an early advantage over Fontbonne, on their way to their first conference win of the season. Singles winners included Jon Urshan, Alex Dowley, Demetrius Bush, Justin McDonald, and Travis Osborne. Doubles winners included Urshan, Dowley, McDonald, and Mason Tennell. Final score: GC 9, Fontbonne 0.
Next up for the Panthers were the Big Blue from Millikin University. In front of a good home crowd, the Panthers again came out strong, led by the #1 doubles team of Alex Dowley and Jonathan Urshan. By winning their match 8-3, they extended their winning streak to 5 matches. Their record at #1 doubles now stands at 7-1. The #2 doubles team of Justin McDonald and Ryan Haas also gained an 8-3 victory. That was followed by an 8-3 victory by the #3 doubles combination of Demetrius Bush and Code Power. Bush and Power’s impressive season record now stands at 7-1.
Sophomore Jonathan Urshan started singles play with a very focused and strong 6-0, 6-3 victory. Senior Ryan Haas followed that up with a near flawless performance at #4 singles, winning 6-0, 6-0. Senior Naoya Uematsu pulled out the most dramatic singles victory of the day by posting a 3 set win at #3 singles. After losing a 4-1 lead in the second set, he came back to win the 3rd set supertiebreaker 10-5. Code Power came out very strong early, and finished off his opponent at #6 singles with a score of 6-0, 7-5. Final Score: GC 7, Millikin 2.
The Panthers record now stands at 6-4 (1-0 in SLIAC Conference). They will travel to Kansas next weekend to take on Central College (KS) and Kansas Wesleyan.
